Leadership practices and middle management as resources to qualify teachers’ professional experiences: a case study

To address the challenges of contemporary education and with the perspective of shaping educational contexts as learning organizations, the possibility for leadership figures to equip themselves with a middle management staff appears strategic ([1]; [2]; [3]). In this context, distributed leadership practices can promote agency and engagement of all stakeholders, crucial dimensions to enhance the quality of educational processes ([4]; [5]; [6]). The contribution presents an investigation conducted in a secondary school in Rome. The main objectives were to analyse the leadership strategies implemented by the school management and middle leaders, delve into their impact on the professional practices of teachers, and identify best practices to disseminate in additional school contexts. Consistent with the interest in creating inclusive educational environments where everyone can be valued ([7]; [8]), the study focused on the field of Educational Support. The study involved 56 teachers, including 4 with intermediate functions in the Inclusion area. Working on their experience was useful to investigate how the leadership practices of the management influence the internal processes of the school and to understand how intermediate coordination practices influence the professional experience of teachers. With a quali-quantitative approach, diaries, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires were used to collect data on the dimensions of interest. The main emerging evidence confirms the importance of promoting distributed leadership practices. Well-directed leadership can facilitate effective work of the middle management figures with whom it collaborates, and these figures can make a difference in engaging the teaching staff in quality processes where everyone feels actively involved and responsible. Among the strategies that have proven effective are the use of monitoring and self-assessment tools and the planning of systematic coordination meetings where peers can engage in discussions.